This invention relates to a material handling device and more particularly to an improved material handling device for moving a plurality of work pieces between adjacent work stations and an improved supporting and actuating device therefor.
In numerous work piece forming operations it is desirable to have a device that is capable of moving a work piece from one station to another. My U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,972,422, entitled Material Handling Apparatus, issued Aug. 3, 1976; 4,002,245, entitled Material Handling Apparatus, issued Jan. 11, 1977; 4,139,104, entitled Material Handling Apparatus, issued Feb. 13, 1979; and my co-pending patent application entitled Material Handling Apparatus, Ser. No. 77,768 filed Sept. 21, 1979, all illustrated devices that are particularly adapted for moving a work piece from one station to another. In many instances, however, successive work stations are juxtaposed to each other and it is desirable to provide a device which will automatically move work pieces from one station to the next. Although such devices have been proposed, they have been limited in application to certain industries and have not offered versatility for a wide number of applications. In many instances the handling devices proposed have not offered sufficient degrees of freedom in their movement so as to traverse a wide enough path to offer use in a variety of applications. Furthermore, many of these devices position the gripping mechanism directly at the work station during the dwell period and thus would interfere with application to a variety of uses.
It is, therefore, a principle object of this invention to provide an improved material handling device for moving work pieces between successive work stations.
It is another object of this invention to provide a material handling device herein the gripping means is moved through a relatively wide path so that application to a variety of uses is possible.
It is another object of this invention to provide a material handling device wherein the gripping means are positioned out of registry with the work station when the device is in its home position so as to not interfere with the operating steps being performed at the individual work stations.
It is another object of this invention to provide an improved motion transfer mechanism for a material handling device that provides movement in two senses and effectively permits such movement for a relatively long supporting member.